Refrigeration unit

ABSTRACT

For effective and energy-saving cooling of articles using straightforward designs, a refrigeration unit, in particular a refrigerated cabinet, freezer cabinet, refrigerated island or refrigerated counter, for storing and/or displaying articles, having a refrigeration chamber for the articles, and having a channel, which is assigned to the refrigeration chamber and is intended for supplying air, wherein two air flows can flow out of an outlet of the channel at different flow speeds and form a double protective air curtain in front of an access to the refrigeration chamber, is configured so that the channel has an element which acts on the supplied air so that the supplied air is divided up into the two air flows with different flow speeds by the element.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a refrigeration unit, in particular arefrigerated cabinet, deep freezer, refrigerated island, or refrigeratedcounter, for storing and/or displaying chilled goods, having arefrigeration chamber for the chilled goods and having a duct, which isallocated to the refrigeration chamber and is intended for supplyingair, wherein two air flows can flow out of an outlet of the duct atdifferent flow speeds and form a double protective air curtain in frontof an entry to the refrigeration chamber.

Discussion of Related Art

A refrigeration unit having a refrigeration chamber for the chilledgoods and having a duct, which is allocated to the refrigeration chamberand is intended for supplying air is known, for example, from GermanPatent Reference DE 34 14 033 A1. The refrigeration unit shown here isspecifically a refrigerated cabinet in which refrigerated air in a ductat the back wall of the refrigeration unit is conveyed upward into afront region of the refrigerated cabinet and flows out of an outlet infront of the refrigeration chamber to form a protective air curtain. Aprotective air curtain of this kind reduces a heat exchange between therefrigeration chamber and the warmer surroundings so much that inenables a safe storage and/or presentation of chilled goods in therefrigeration chamber.

It is known to produce a protective air curtain of this kind out of twosuitable air flows with different flow speeds. This achieves aparticularly effective isolation of the refrigeration chamber from theusually warmer surroundings. To produce such a double protective aircurtain, the duct is embodied with or has two separate air ducts for theair supply, which supply respective air flows with different flowspeeds. In refrigeration units of this kind, it is problematic that theair flows emerging from the outlet of the duct usually only flow for ashort distance and they definitely do not flow in laminar fashion alongthe whole refrigeration chamber as required. This results in the factthat the desired protective air curtain cannot be reliably embodiedalong the entire refrigeration chamber.

Specifically, the air flows emerging from the duct mostly tend to flowinto the refrigeration chamber instead of forming a protective aircurtain in front of the refrigeration chamber. This tendency iscounteracted by producing additional supporting air curtains, which areformed by air flows coming out of the back wall of the refrigerationchamber into the refrigeration chamber, which are intended to keep theair flows that form the protective air curtain from migrating into therefrigeration chamber. In this case, care is taken to ensure that thesesupporting air curtains are produced out of laminar flows as much aspossible in order to keep the air flows of the protective air curtainout of the refrigeration chamber as reliably as possible. Onedisadvantage of these laminar flows, however, is that their desiredcooling action on the chilled goods is not very good since these laminarsupporting air flows exhibit only interact with the chilled goods for ashort time. In other words, the supporting air curtain flows past thechilled goods too quickly and too rectilinearly to exert an effectivecooling action on the chilled goods.

The known refrigeration unit is therefore disadvantageous from an energystandpoint because specifically in order to produce a steady protectiveair curtain that reliably flows along the entire refrigeration chamber,additional supporting air curtains must be produced, which flow in aslaminar as possible a manner through the refrigeration chamber and outfrom the refrigeration chamber, but which, due to their desirablelaminar nature, do not achieve a particularly effective cooling of thechilled goods. As a result, a great deal of energy must be expended toachieve reliable cooling of the chilled goods.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One object of this invention, therefore, is to embody and modify arefrigeration unit of the type mentioned above so as to enable aneffective and energy-saving cooling of the chilled goods through simpledesigns.

The above object and others are attained by a refrigeration unit havingthe features described in this specification and in the claims, whereinthe refrigeration unit is embodied and modified so that the duct has anelement that acts on the supplied air in a way that the element dividesthe supplied air into the two air flows with different flow speeds.

According to this invention, by aptly producing and guiding two coolingair flows with different flow speeds, the above object and others areattained in a surprisingly simple way. Thus, according to thisinvention, the duct has an element that acts on the supplied cooling airin such a way that this element not only produces a division of thesupplied air into two air flows, it also produces the different flowspeeds of the two air flows. In this connection, in a simply designedway, it is on the one hand no longer necessary to produce one duct withtwo separate air ducts in order to convey the two air flows that arerequired for a double protective air curtain. In a simply designed way,it is sufficient to have one duct with a single air duct and an elementplaced in a suitable position. This embodiment of the duct with only oneair duct also has advantages from a hygienic standpoint since itfacilitates a cleaning of the duct with only one air duct. It has alsotuned out that this embodiment of the duct with a division into the twoair flows first occurring at the element results in a more reliable,quieter air flow. Finally, it has turned out that one embodiment of theduct according to this invention with the element acting on the suppliedair results in a laminar flow of the protective air curtain over arelatively long distance so that supporting air curtains that wererequired in prior refrigeration units are largely no longer necessary oreven entirely unnecessary in order to maintain the protective aircurtain in the required way. In other words, it is no longer necessaryfor supporting air curtains to be conveyed in as strictly laminar afashion as is required in conventional refrigeration units. This makesit possible to use a more turbulent supporting air flow than before sothat an improved cooling action can be exerted on the chilled goods.This achieves significant energy savings in the required refrigeration.

Consequently, the refrigeration unit according to this inventionachieves a refrigeration unit that enables an effective andenergy-saving cooling of the chilled goods through simple designs.

In a reliable and simply designed way for reliably producing air flowswith different flow speeds, the element can be placed inside the duct orin the vicinity of or near the outlet of the duct. The placement insidethe duct offers an effective positioning of the element that isprotected from external influences. Depending on the requirements, thisplacement can be provided in the vicinity of or near the outlet. It isalso possible to position the element essentially in front of the outletof the duct in order to ensure easy access to the element for cleaningand/or maintenance purposes.

In a particularly effective and elegant way, the element can be embodiedin wing-like fashion to make use of the Bernoulli Effect. Such awing-like embodiment of the element on the one hand ensures a reliabledivision of the supplied air flowing past the element into two air flowsand on the other hand, ensures a reliable production of different flowspeeds of the air flows on the two sides of the wing-like element.Because of the air pressure differences that the wing-like elementproduces on the different sides of the wing-like element, this producesdifferences in the flow speeds of the two air flows that are dictated bythe individual embodiment of the element. Depending on the embodiment ofthe wing-like element, it is thus possible to achieve different flowspeeds of the two air flows, depending on the desired use. In thisregard, the wing-like element can be embodied and can function, so tospeak, like an airfoil, for example of an airplane.

With regard to a particularly versatile use and with regard toindividual possibilities for adapting the produced air flows toindividual existing requirements, the element can be adjusted relativeto the duct and/or can be pivoted around an axis relative to the ductand/or can be shifted relative to the duct. Depending on the adjusting,pivoting, or shifting position, different flow speeds and a differentflow behavior of the two air flows can be achieved. The axis aroundwhich the element can be pivoted can be oriented essentiallyperpendicular to the flow directions of the air flows.

With regard to an alternative or additional individual production of airflows and the respective flow speeds, the element can have a pluralityof sections that can be adjusted and/or pivoted relative to one another.In this embodiment, the element can advantageously be individuallyembodied or shaped with regard to the extent of the adjustability of thesections. This makes it possible to adapt to a wide variety ofapplications.

To produce a protective air curtain that has a laminar flow over thegreatest possible distance, a guide device for parallel guidance of thesupplied air can be positioned inside the duct, before the element inthe flow direction. This prior parallel guidance of the supplied airproduces a laminar flow with the greatest possible range in the vicinityof or near the protective air curtain. This produces a pre-alignment, soto speak, of the supplied air so that after the supplied air is dividedinto the two air flows, a particularly far-reaching laminar flow isproduced.

Alternatively or in addition to this a guide device, for parallelguidance of the two air flows, after the element, viewed in a flowdirection, a guide device can be positioned inside the duct, at theoutlet of the duct, or after the outlet. By this, the air that hasalready been divided into two air flows is guided in parallel fashionafter being divided, so that this also achieves a prolonging of thelaminar flow in the protective air curtain.

At least one of the guide devices positioned before and/or after theelement can have a plurality of flat guide elements arranged parallel toone another. Flat guide elements of this kind offer a particularlysimple and reliable parallel guidance of the air flowing past them.

At least one of the two guide devices positioned before and/or after theelement can be composed of a plurality of individual sections. Thismakes it possible to achieve a modular design of the guide devices inorder to take into account a wide variety of requirements andapplication situations.

In another advantageous way, the duct can have at least one additionaloutlet for the supplied air that opens into the refrigeration chamber.The at least one additional outlet is embodied in such a way that airflowing into the refrigeration chamber is essentially turbulent andpreferably forms a supporting air curtain for the protective aircurtain. In this case, this invention has one advantage of aparticularly far-reaching laminar flow in the protective air curtain dueto the use of the element, and the turbulent flow in the supporting aircurtain can achieve a particularly effective cooling of the chilledgoods. The turbulent flow achieves a longer-lasting and thus morereliable interaction between the air and the chilled goods for thecooling of the chilled goods. It is thus possible to save significantamounts of energy for the cooling of the chilled goods.

With the refrigeration unit according to this invention, it is possibleto achieve a combination of turbulent flow in the refrigeration chamberand laminar flow in the protective air curtain in a way that isparticularly advantageous from an energy standpoint. In addition to avery effective heat exchange in the refrigeration chamber, thiscombination produces a protective air curtain with different flowspeeds, which in an extraordinarily stable way, counteracts externalinterferences such as heat flows to the refrigeration unit. Thisachieves a particularly high energy efficiency of the refrigeration unitaccording to this invention.

The refrigeration unit according to this invention can be both arefrigeration unit with its own condensing unit, a so-called plug-inrefrigeration unit, and a refrigeration unit with a connection to acentral refrigeration unit, for example with a network of connectedpipes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

There are now various possibilities for advantageously embodying andmodifying the teaching of this invention. In this regard, reference ismade on the one hand to the subsequent claims and on the other to thefollowing description of exemplary embodiments of the teaching accordingto this invention based on the drawings. In connection with explainingthe preferred exemplary embodiments of the teaching according to thisinvention based on the drawings, explanations are also provided forgenerally preferred embodiments and modifications of the teaching,wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a conventional′ refrigeration unit ina form of a refrigerated cabinet;

FIG. 2 is a schematic partial side view of a duct of a first exemplaryembodiment of a refrigeration unit according to this invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic partial side view of a duct of a second exemplaryembodiment of a refrigeration unit according to this invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic partial side view of a duct of a third exemplaryembodiment of a refrigeration unit according to this invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic partial side view of a duct of a fourth exemplaryembodiment of a refrigeration unit according to this invention;

FIGS. 6-9 are schematic depictions of advantageous embodiment options ofoutlets for producing turbulent flows in the refrigeration chamber ofexemplary embodiments of refrigeration units according to thisinvention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic side view of a refrigeration unit in the form ofa refrigerated counter;

FIG. 11 is a schematic side view of a refrigeration unit in the form ofa deep freezer; and

FIG. 12 is a schematic side view of a refrigeration unit in the form ofa combination set having a refrigerated cabinet and a deep freezer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a conventional refrigeration unit inthe form of a refrigerated cabinet. Refrigeration units of this kind areused for storage and/or presentation of chilled goods. The refrigerationunit has a refrigeration chamber 1 for the chilled goods, with aplurality of shelves 7 for chilled goods provided in the refrigerationchamber 1. The refrigeration chamber 1 has a duct 2 allocated to it forsupplying air. The air flows into the duct 2 essentially from below andcan flow out from an outlet 3 of the duct 2 in the form of two air flowswith different flow speeds. The air flows form a double protective aircurtain in a region 4 in front of the refrigeration chamber 1. The flowdirection is indicated by an arrow 5. The protective air curtain extendsin front of an entry 6 to the refrigeration chamber 1 in order toprevent a heat exchange with the warmer surroundings of therefrigeration unit.

During operation of the refrigeration unit, the air flows constantlytravel from the top of the refrigerated cabinet to the lower region ofthe refrigerated cabinet and are collected there in order to be conveyedinto a circuit in the ducts 2. After collection, a cooling of the airflows takes place so that the air flows travel out of the duct 2 at alower temperature than when they are collected in the lower region.

With regard to a particularly effective and energy-saving cooling of thechilled goods through simple designs, according to a first exemplaryembodiment of this invention, the duct 2 shown in the enlarged depictionin FIG. 2 is equipped with an element 8 that acts on the supplied air insuch a way that the division of the supplied air into the two air flowswith different flow speeds is achieved by the element 8 itself. At theelement 8, the air supplied through the duct 2 is first divided into thetwo air flows that have different flow speeds due to the special designof the element 8. The element 8 has an essentially convexly curved topand an essentially concavely curved bottom. The flow speed at the top ishigher than at the bottom. The element 8 extends transversely to theduct 2 along its entire width. The duct 2 is embodied with anessentially rectangular cross-section so that a protective air curtaincan be produced along the entire width of the duct 2. These two airflows emerge from the outlet 3 and then form the double protective aircurtain in front of the entry 6 to the refrigeration chamber 1.

In the exemplary embodiment shown, the element 8 is positioned insidethe duct 2. In addition, the element 8 is embodied in a wing-likefashion to make use of the Bernoulli Effect. The element 8 is arrangedso that it is able to pivot around an axis 9. It is thus possible toeasily change the position of the air flows produced. The axis 9 isoriented perpendicular to the flow direction of the supplied air. Inaddition, the axis 9 in the exemplary embodiment shown here extends in ahorizontal direction and perpendicular to the plane of the drawing ofFIG. 2, which shows a side view of the upper region of the duct 2.

In the exemplary embodiment shown, in the flow direction before theelement 8 in the duct 2, a guide device 10 is provided to guide thesupplied air in a parallel fashion. By the parallel guidance of thesupplied air, it is possible to produce from the two air flows a laminarflow that reaches a particularly long distance after the outlet 3. Inthe exemplary embodiment shown here, the guide device 10 has threeindividual sections 10. In addition to the guide device 10, a guidedevice 11, which is for guiding the two produced air flows in parallelfashion, is positioned inside the duct 2 in the vicinity of or near theoutlet 3, after the element 8 in the flow direction. This achieves anadditional prolonging of the laminar flow region after the outlet 3.

The guide devices 10 and 11 have a plurality of flat guide elements 12oriented parallel to one another. This achieves a particularly reliableguidance of the air.

FIGS. 3 to 5 respectively show a schematic, enlarged side view of a duct2 of a second, third, and fourth exemplary embodiment of a refrigerationunit according to this invention with an element 8 positioned inside theduct 2. In these exemplary embodiments, the element 8 is arranged instationary fashion inside the duct 2 and is not able to pivot around anaxis. In addition, the exemplary embodiments shown in FIGS. 3 to 5differ from the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 2 due to thedifferent embodiment of the guide device 10, which guides the suppliedair in parallel fashion before the element 8 in the flow direction. Inthis case, the second exemplary embodiment according to FIG. 3 has aguide device 10 composed of or of one individual section 10. The guidedevices 10 according to the third and fourth exemplary embodiments inFIGS. 4 and 5 have three and five individual sections 10, respectively.When selecting the number of individual sections 10, it is necessary totake into account the respective intended use. Basically, the presenceof more individual sections 10 results in a more reliable parallelguidance of the supplied air, with the flow resistance increasing as thenumber of individual sections 10 in the duct 2 rises.

In the above-described exemplary embodiments, the duct 2, in addition tothe outlet 3, can have at least one other outlet 13 for the suppliedair, opening into the refrigeration chamber 1. This outlet 13 isembodied so that air flowing into the refrigeration chamber 1 isessentially turbulent and preferably forms a supporting air curtain forthe protective air curtain. According to FIGS. 6 to 9, differentembodiments of these outlets 13 are shown, which result in turbulentflows into the refrigeration chamber 1. In this case, FIG. 6 shows anarrangement of crescent-shaped outlets 13, FIG. 7 shows an arrangementof circular outlets 13 with different diameters, FIG. 8 shows anarrangement of rod-shaped outlets 13, and FIG. 9 shows an arrangement ofstar-shaped outlets 13. Such outlets 13 can, for example, be embodied inthe back wall of a refrigeration chamber 1.

FIG. 10 is a schematic side view of a conventional refrigerated counter,which could have a duct 2 with an element 8 according to this inventionin order to achieve an effective and energy-saving cooling of thechilled goods through simple designs.

In the same way, FIG. 11 is a schematic side view of a conventionalrefrigeration unit 11 in the form of a deep freezer. Here, too, anelement 8 can be provided inside the duct 2. Finally, in the same way,FIG. 12 is a schematic side view of a conventional refrigeration unit inthe form of a combination set having a refrigerated cabinet and a deepfreezer. Here, too, an element 8 can be positioned inside the duct 2.

Basically, it should be stated that the idea according to this inventionof embodying the duct 2 with a suitable element 8 can be advantageouslyimplemented in all conventional types of refrigeration units.

In order to avoid repetition, with regard to other advantageousembodiments of the refrigeration unit according to this invention,reference is made to the general part of the description and to theattached claims.

Finally, it should be expressly stated that the above-describedexemplary embodiments of the refrigeration unit according to thisinvention are provided only for the sake of discussing the claimedteaching, but do not limit this teaching to the exemplary embodiments.

1. A refrigeration unit, in particular a refrigerated cabinet, deepfreezer, refrigerated island, or refrigerated counter, for storingand/or displaying chilled goods, having a refrigeration chamber (1) forthe chilled goods and having a duct (2), which is allocated to therefrigeration chamber (1) and is intended for supplying air, wherein twoair flows can flow out of an outlet (3) of the duct (2) at differentflow speeds and form a double protective air curtain in front of anentry (6) to the refrigeration chamber (1), the refrigeration unitcomprising the duct (2) having an element (8) acting on the supplied airso that the element (8) divides the supplied air into the two air flowswith different flow speeds.
 2. The refrigeration unit according to claim1, wherein the element (8) is positioned inside the duct (2) or near theoutlet (3) of the duct (2).
 3. The refrigeration unit according to claim2, wherein the element (8) is embodied in a wing-like fashion to makeuse of a Bernoulli Effect.
 4. The refrigeration unit according to claim3, wherein the element (8) is embodied so that in relation to the duct(2), it is adjustable and/or pivotable around an axis (9), and/or ableto shift.
 5. The refrigeration unit according to claim 4, wherein theelement (8) has a plurality of sections that can be adjusted and/orpivoted relative to one another.
 6. The refrigeration unit according toclaim 5, wherein a guide device (10) for parallel guidance of thesupplied air is provided inside the duct (2), before the element (8) ina flow direction.
 7. The refrigeration unit according to claim 6,wherein in order to guide the two air flows in parallel fashion afterthe element (8) in the flow direction, a guide device (11) can bepositioned inside the duct (2), at the outlet (3) of the duct (2), orafter the outlet (3).
 8. The refrigeration unit according to claim 7,wherein the guide device (10, 11) has a plurality of flat guide elementsarranged parallel to one another.
 9. The refrigeration unit according toclaim 8, wherein the guide device (10, 11) is of a plurality ofindividual sections (10).
 10. The refrigeration unit according to claim9, wherein the duct (2) has at least one other outlet (13) for thesupplied air opening into the refrigeration chamber (1) and the at leastone other outlet (13) is embodied so that air flowing into therefrigeration chamber (1) is essentially turbulent and preferably formsa supporting air curtain for the protective air curtain.
 11. Therefrigeration unit according to claim 1, wherein the element (8) isembodied in a wing-like fashion to make use of a Bernoulli Effect. 12.The refrigeration unit according to claim 1, wherein the element (8) isembodied so that in relation to the duct (2), it is adjustable and/orpivotable around an axis (9), and/or able to shift.
 13. Therefrigeration unit according to claim 1, wherein the element (8) has aplurality of sections that can be adjusted and/or pivoted relative toone another.
 14. The refrigeration unit according to claim 1, wherein aguide device (10) for parallel guidance of the supplied air is providedinside the duct (2), before the element (8) in a flow direction.
 15. Therefrigeration unit according to claim 1, wherein in order to guide thetwo air flows in parallel fashion after the element (8) in the flowdirection, a guide device (11) can be positioned inside the duct (2), atthe outlet (3) of the duct (2), or after the outlet (3).
 16. Therefrigeration unit according to claim 6, wherein the guide device (10,11) has a plurality of flat guide elements arranged parallel to oneanother.
 17. The refrigeration unit according to claim 6, wherein theguide device (10, 11) is of a plurality of individual sections (10). 18.The refrigeration unit according to claim wherein the duct (2) has atleast one other outlet (13) for the supplied air opening into therefrigeration chamber (1) and the at least one other outlet (13) isembodied so that air flowing into the refrigeration chamber (1) isessentially turbulent and preferably forms a supporting air curtain forthe protective air curtain.